


the spark

by SpiritTamer



Series: apologies, forgiveness [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Virtual Reality, Canon Rewrite, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Past Child Abuse, gross incest subplots are OUT healthy sibling relationships are IN, precanon, pregame au, vr au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-04-12
Packaged: 2019-04-04 17:42:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14025342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpiritTamer/pseuds/SpiritTamer
Summary: The story of how Miyadera Shinguji lost her little brother





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> it’s in the tags, but please note the warnings of child abuse. no actual scenes and nothing too extreme, but still needed to put a warning here too. will only be for this chapter

“...We’re not going back home, are we?”

Miyadera draws a long breath, fingers tapping rhythmically on the steering wheel. Flashes of street lights slip through the window and land across her arms. 

They’d left the countryside about an hour ago and slowly were approaching the nearest city. She figured they’d be harder to track the more people were around. The analog clock on the dashboard flashes 4 am, with the only sound in the car being the quiet snoring of Hikari and Reimei, peacefully sleeping in the backseat. 

She turns back towards her brother, riding shotgun with his head rested against the window. A few bags they couldn’t fit in the trunk sat at his feet and on his lap. 

“No, Korekiyo.” The car speeds up a bit. “We’re not.” 

 

. . .

 

Miyadera Shinguji was the oldest of a family of six, three younger siblings and two assholes she didn’t think deserved the title of mother and father. Rich business associates with a comfortably big house in the country. When the two were home, the house was a strung together with tension from each family member, rather it be in anger or fear. When mother and father came home, no happiness could be found. 

Hikari, the 2nd youngest, a 10-year-old girl with short black hair tied back in a ponytail, most happy in a big warm sweater. Loud and bright, enthusiastic to talk to anyone. She always became quiet when their parents were around, constantly scared of getting yelled at for being too obnoxious- or worse. 

“Can’t you talk louder?” She’d ask one night when Miyadera sat on the girl bed, reading her a bedtime story. 

Miyadera hummed, fumbling with the corner of a page. “Not right now, sis.”

Hikari pouted and turned to bundle in her sheets, sighing into the pillow. 

“We get to have more fun when mom and dad aren’t around.”

She couldn’t help but wince at that. Parents ignoring a punk almost adult first child? Rude but fine to deal with. But the fact that even Hikari liked it better when they weren't around? Concerning. 

 

. . . 

 

 

“I failed math.” Was the tight-lipped answer from Reimei, with the question being why he was crying up in his room. 

The youngest of the family, Reimei was the shyer and the wanderlust-driven kid. Tall for his age with glasses behind curious eyes. An adventurer.

“Well, you’re not expected to be perfect at a subject in 2nd grade.” She replied, drawing him in for a hug. 

“M’ hungry.” He murmured into her arm, tugging on her jacket. “Dad said no dinner.” 

Miyadera froze, looking down at her little brother. “Sorry, what?”

Reimei drew away, looking down and trying to clear the tears in his eyes. “Says it’s cause I’m never getting to school on time.” 

Well, that would be because their parents don’t care enough to take the younger ones to school. Miyadera had to learn how to drive earlier than most to do so, and get a late job to pay insurance, and often got home late because of said fact. She didn’t go to school anymore, working because they refused to give money. Maybe if her parents were oh so kind enough to take care of their kids, this wouldn’t have happened.

She doesn’t say any of that, though, and promises to take Reimei to a diner once Mother and Father were asleep.

 

. . .

 

Of course, she’d considered it. Running away from home. Getting the hell out of dodge. Ditching them for how they’d raised the family. Honestly, it’s not like they’d care. She’d disappeared overnight from time to time. They weren’t home more than once a week, if not less. 

The biggest problem was her siblings. Leaving herself would be easy, she had a care and enough money saved up to get off okay. Always independent, street smart. A rebellious teenager with a cause. Sticking it to the man. 

But she couldn’t abandon the people she cared about most. They didn’t have much family Mother and Father let them visit, so it was an all or nothing situation. Stay here or leave with everyone. 

About once a month she’d take everything out of her bank account, pack up a suitcase, and sit on her bed, blankly staring at the wall. Ready at a seconds notice to be gone, but each time, Miyadera would reconsider, scared of the rebuttal of her parents, and unpack with soft tears. 

 

. . .

 

Two weeks before her 18th birthday was when the decision was made for it. Whenever Mother and Father were home, they were yelling at the younger ones, being far too frustrated with Reimei or refusing to give help to Hikari. Tension had been building for everyone. Hikari got quieter, trying to suck up so she’d been less scared, but nothing was working. They were cracking. 

When Miyadera came home from another off end job, tired and annoyed and ready to sleep for 3 hours, she found the bathroom light from her brother's room on, the door slid open and muffled sniffling come from inside. When she knocks, anxious, it quickly stops. A second later, Korekiyo emerges, holding a straight face. His cheeks are red from crying though. 

She knows how much Korekiyo hates people reading his emotions. It’s a weakness, vulnerability. Straight-faced and unknown was his strategy. Miyadera was the opposite, unafraid to be open with her opinion. She talked without hesitating on quirking up her words. Letting people know exactly how she felt. 

Even with conflicting ways of going about day to day, the two were close. Miyadera was protective. Korekiyo was easily overshadowed and manipulated. Shy. She had to be there to push him forward. 

So despite immediately being worried, she looked him up and down, eyes glinting with questions. They landed on his arms crossed over each other, laced with a few bandages hanging off. Under them, recently bloomed bruises were dusted in a deep blue. 

Miyadera lifts her own hands and traces the wounds, trembling more than Korekiyo is. She looks up, meets his eyes for a split second, and stares back down. Worry turns to anger and she jerks away, grabbing at the wall before she does something stupid. 

She then asks a question she already knows the answer to. Just doesn't want to believe it.

“Who?” 

It should really be, ‘what happened,’ but she’s well aware these are human inflicted.

Korekiyo tilts his head to the side, to the direction of their parent's room. 

It was in that moment she made the decision. Of course, she doesn’t say anything for now. Sighs, slowly brings him in for a hug. Unlocks the medicine cabinet, carefully fixing up the bruises. She grits her teeth every second. Outloud, she’s reassuring Korekiyo. Saying it won’t happen again.

(Of course, it will. Mother and Father have always been a bit rough- but this is terrifying. Because it will just get worse.)

In her head, she’s planning. Calculating how much money the smallest apartment will cost. Mentally packing bags. Figuring out how far away they can get before she doesn’t have enough for gas. 

Maybe her siblings will hate her for this. Thinking they were better back home, living in fear and isolation. Or maybe this will be the thing they need to be happy. Perhaps a little bit of freedom will be enough. She doesn’t know, and it’s terrifying. Instead of voicing these thoughts, she stifles Korekiyo’s sadness and helps him clean up. Mother and Father knowing he was crying would just make things worse. 

Miyadera got away with the most, being the first child. Allowed to be a bit rebellious. But Korekiyo, they could get away with manipulating him constantly. She couldn’t stand it. Couldn’t deal with any of her family getting abused by two demons who thought they had the right to be called parents. 

 

. . .

 

And so, Miyadera spent the days leading up to her 18th birthday organizing. Secretly packing. Since they lived in isolation, getting in contact with other family members was difficult. She asked for money without drawing suspicion. Sucked up to Father to give the kids dinner- they would be running short on food money for the first week or so. Worked overtime. Didn’t sleep for the last few days at all, researching about legality issues up in the AM. 

She thanks the heavens Mother and Father didn’t give a shit about her for once, for her birthday was spent alone, locked in her room for stealing from the fridge. Luckily, she’d learned how to lockpick years ago, and waited till the clocked ticked far enough, into legal adulthood. 

“I need you to wake Reimei and Hikari up.” She asks, flicking the light on to Korekiyo’s room, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. Leather jacket over a sweater vest and long sleeve button up. The more she didn’t have to pack, the better. Dazzled up with a layer of makeup, bright red lipstick pristine. She’d stolen it all from Mother’s room as a bit of petty revenge. 

Korekiyo squints at the harsh light, a bit out of it from being awake at 1 am. Whilst Miyadera begins walking around, picking a few things off his shelf, he throws on a t-shirt and sits up, still huddling under a blanket. 

“What are we doing?” He asks, watching her intently. Miyadera shovels a book under her arm. 

“Well, you’re waking up the other two while I start packing for you.”

Korekiyo sighs and grabs a pair of reading glasses off his bedside table, finally awake enough. “Actually, I more asked, ‘what are you really doing?’”

She pauses, turns around, meeting his eyes. “The only thing we can do, at this point.” 

“Right.” 

Miyadera shoves a few more books in her arms, starts to leave. Scared.

“Kind of a bad birthday present?” Korekiyo says, and she hears him stretching out of bed. 

“Nah.” She twirls out the doorway, unstable from the weight are her shoulders. “The best one I could ask for.” 

They start packing. 

 

. . .

 

At about 5 am, Hikari wakes up, and immediately leans over the shotgun seat, bugging Korekiyo with a question every two minutes. It should be annoying, but it’s preferred to silence.

“Are we going on vacation?” 

“Not exactly.” 

“Is it somewhere fun?”

“This isn’t twenty questions.” Korekiyo looks over at her helplessly. Miyadera chuckles.

“We could play twenty questions, though.” 

He gives her a desperate look. Hikari grins, bouncing in her seat. “Yay!”

 

. . .

 

The apartment is small, broken down and cold. An uninviting cheap mess. There's not much furniture, to begin with. One rusty counter and a cupboard hanging off its hinges in one main room. One side room where Miyadera dumps Hikari and Reimei’s bags down. They'd go bed shopping tomorrow. She's exhausted.

A tiny second flight of stairs leads to two small adjacent rooms separated by a bathroom. 

”You get the window room.” Miyadera says, tossing Korekiyo’s backpack at him. She looks miserable. 

”Why’s it so tiny?” Hikari calls from the front room, and they can see her from the stairs, sitting on the empty counter. Reimei is on the floor with a book Korekiyo gave him in the car, eyelids flickering from tiredness. He hadn’t slept after Hikari nudged him awake to play 20 questions. 

”It’s to fit your size.” Miyadera yells back as she investigates the bathroom, still managing to crack a joke. He can hear voice dripping with sleepiness, though. She did just drive for 8 hours straight, and he's assuming she hasn't slept well. 

They both make their way into his new room, peering out the window together. It's not much of a view, the apartment in the most rundown area of the city. He can see a few shops down the road from here. Smiling people walking out with bags. It gives him a sense of hope. 

”Are you going to tell them?” Korekiyo asks after a moment of silence, Miyadera lost in thought. ”That this isn't a trip, I mean.” 

She hums, resting fingerless gloved hands on the window sill. Expressionless. 

”Soon. If we aren't in jail by tomorrow.” 

A smile plays on Korekiyo’s lips, hidden behind a scarf wrapped around his neck. He’d always been self-conscious, and it was cold away. ”Technically, only you'd go to jail, since you're 18.” 

She tries to smile back, but it's obviously fake, and looks pained. He sighs and rests on the window sill too. 

”Promise you'll tell them though?” He asks, turning towards his sister. 

”I will.” 

He holds out a hand, pinky finger extended. Miyadera scoffs, but compiles, linking them together.

”I promise.”


	2. II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> updated the warnings a bit! implied suicidal tendencies and thoughts here. Nothing graphic or even that extreme, but obviously still warning...
> 
> anyways, i had a lot of fun establishing character here! Angie is fun to write. she uses correct pronouns on purpose by the way, it’s explained later.

Korekiyo awoke to repetitive tapping heard next to his head, and slowly rose his neck up, rubbing tired eyes. He peered up at the annoyed expression of his English teacher, glaring down at him. 

“Shinguji.” She said, frowning. He quickly shuffled to get his textbook out, yawning all the way.

Lately, he hadn't slept much. When he did, it was restless. Last night, Miyadera took a late shift at her newest job to pay for groceries, leaving Korekiyo to make dinner for Reimei and Hikari. That wouldn’t be a problem every once and a while, but they were quickly running out of their original money and it was more often than not Miyadera was working. 

But it was nice, in some ways. Over the first two weeks of living at the new place, he felt home. Peaceful with people who cared for him. Sure, balancing out food money with rent wasn’t easy, but even without parents, they felt more family than ever. 

Blinking back into reality, he realized his English class sleeping antics lead to some giggling from classmates. It wasn’t surprising he had obtained zero friends. He hadn’t had any to begin with, so, same old same old. Still flustered, he opened the book and refused to look up, not wanting to acknowledge the amused stares. 

The bell rang, and Korekiyo was the first one out of the room, hating any kind of confrontation. He hated how people stared at the new kid, who refused to say anything about his past and family, who was far too timid to even be a person. This made lunch the highlight of his day, retreating to the school rooftops for some solitude. Or, well, it was supposed to be in solitude. Apparently, already tired and annoyed enough, life cursed him with another person to deal with. 

He hadn’t noticed anyone at first, sat with his knees drawn up on a bench, taking his scarf off to eat. Then came humming, rhythmic, melodious humming followed by footsteps. 

He drew back in surprise, seeing someone walking on the roof fence. A petite girl balanced on the top of the metal fence, black flats criss-crossing over each other. She had her white hair done up in two long pigtails, and her dark uniform contrasted on the pale sky. Korekiyo had seen her before, the girl was in his history class with no name. Never really paid attention though, lost in her own world, fingers tracing paper into imaginary artwork. 

His first instinct- and damn Miyadera motherly tendencies for rubbing off on him- was to yell at her to get down, because it was foolish and easy to fall from such a tiny railing. There were no teachers up here, so no one could do that for him. What kid could be so...dumb?

Of course, he didn’t want to scare her, so his second idea was what actually came out of his mouth. A stuttered, “Be careful…” He instantly mentally kicked himself for how stupid that sounded. 

The words were said, and the girl looked up from her feet, meeting his eyes with a blank face. She stopped walking and swayed on the piece of fence, looking down at the school courtyard below, and then back to Korekiyo, contemplating something.

“I wasn’t really trying to be careful.” She finally says, voice lighter than he expected. Her expression becomes somewhat of a smile, but her eyes say otherwise. 

Oh. Something clicks. She was doing something this dangerous with the possible intention of falling. Right. Korekiyo swallows hard, wringing his hands together. Oh god, he wasn’t prepared for this. If she jumped, it was his fault, it was always his fault. 

And she did jump- jump down to the roof side of the fence, hands and feet hitting the concrete only a foot below. The girl brushed off her hands and spun around to get the dust out of her skirt. She skipped forward till she was in front of him, a genuine smile now forming. 

“Angie.” She stated, holding out a hand. Still a bit dumbfounded, he shook it with a dry mouth. 

“You see,” Angie continued as if the introduction never happened. “I do that every day, a few laps on the fence. It’s kind of a test, people want me dead enough, but if it was an accident no one would be blamed! A win-win situation, ykno?” She’s stopped talking to him, looking up at the sky, perhaps talking to the gods. It’s getting cloudy out. 

“Buuuuut…” She says, drawing out long enough to meet his eyes again. “No one’s ever up here! And yet here you are!” Angie draws her arms out wide, grinning. 

“Y-Yeah. I am.” He replies, slowly, honestly not sure what to say. This might be the strangest girl he’s ever met. She appears to have just been trying to die and five seconds later is bouncing around like sunshine personified. 

”Thanks!” She says, grabbing his wrist to aggressively shake his hand again, leaving Korekiyo dumbfounded as she skips away, skirt twirling. Instinctively, he waves, bandaged hand falling to his side.

What a weird girl. 

 

. . . .

 

”Turn that trash off!” Miyadera shouts from the kitchen, balancing two plates against her side, walking to the living room. Hikari and Reimei sat crouched on the floor in front of their tiny square tv. She reached down and snatched up the remote, clicking off the _Danganronpa V2_ replay. The two younger siblings groaned, but still took the dinner plates from Miyadera’s hands.

”It’s a good show!” Hikari pouted, looking at Miyadera with an annoyed expression. 

”I don’t want you two watching it. It’s not humane, brainwashing those kids.” 

”You’re not our mother.” Reimei mumbled just loud enough for her to hear, to which Miyadera flinched, turning away. 

”You’re right.” She stood, tossing the remote back down. ”I’m not.” 

Feeling guilty, the brother and sister quickly went quiet to eat, leaving Miyadera to head back to the kitchen. 

“What were they watching?” Korekiyo asks curiously, moving his homework out of the way so she could lean against the counter. She sighed dramatically and rested her head on the wood. 

“ _Danganronpa_. One of my coworkers at the diner is obsessed with it. I’m sick of hearing about kids killing each other.” 

Korekiyo looked perplexed. “It’s just a TV show, right?” 

“Virtual reality,” Miyadera quickly replied. “Sure it’s not real, but that’s gotta mess with your head, right? Last season’s winner looked dead inside when he was first interviewed.” 

“Oh.” He shrugs. “Sorry, I’m not really caught up with the media.” 

Miyadera didn’t seem to care and dropped the subject, sighing to look back in their living room. 

“You don’t have to be their mother, you know.” Korekiyo said after a moment, to offer her some solace. Their run away from home hadn’t been easy, especially on her. He’d noticed Miyadera’s stress to replace their parents, no matter how low the standards were. He felt shame sometimes, not being able to do enough to help. Multiple times she’d mentioned they might be struggling for rent soon. Once late at night when Reimei and Hikari were sleeping, she even suggested they go back home. 

It was quickly shut down, as she then said she’d rather get caught free. 

“Yeah, but I have to be your sister.” Miyadera said standing up, ruffling Korekiyo’s long hair and shaking him back to reality. 

Maybe things weren’t going so bad. 

 

. . . .

 

Danganronpa comes up again in Korekiyo’s life, oddly enough, only a few days later. 

He sees Angie more often now that he’s aware of her. He’s a bit concerned to talk to her, and she seems to always be in and out of the halls anyways. Even when he goes on the roof to eat, he only sees her once leaving back downstairs. The first person to actually talk to him and she was an enigma. 

Fate has other plans, apparently. 

It was a soft fall day out, warm enough for Korekiyo to have no jacket over his uniform, headed outside the front entrance to go back to the apartment for the night. The quiet day is interrupted as he turns the corner and hears heated conversation on the other side of the school wall. 

Now- he wasn’t one to eavesdrop without reason, but human nature had curiosity implemented in it. So Korekiyo peaked around the corner to see someone leaning on the other side, phone held up to their ear. 

It’s Angie, of course, body tense, phone up to her ear. 

He spins back around to flatten himself against the wall, not wanting her to notice. She doesn’t, and the conversation continues. 

“I’m not- I’m not backing out now.” The girl hissed at the other person on the phone. “I _have_ to do this- God’s telling me to!” 

“Fuck your bullshit god!” A female voice on the other end became loud enough for him to hear. “It’s just an excuse for you to run away.” Korekiyo winced. He knew all about ruining away. 

“You don’t care about me.” Angie replied, voice sounding more tired than angry. “You keep using my commission money to buy useless stuff- I don’t even have enough for my medication anymore.” 

Well, that explained the fence thing. Maybe. Who was he to assume?

The person on the line says something he doesn’t catch, and Angie sighs. 

“Look-“ The other says finally. “Your parents didn’t want you so we took you in. Show some goddamn respect. Don’t listen to your fake God and stay.”

“It’s not…” A long pause. “You won’t have to deal with me. I know you and our roommates don’t like me. I’m just here to split the rent. So just, let me do this.”

“Do whatever you want, _Danganronpa_ will just fuck you up more than you already are. 

Korekiyo peeks back around to see Angie slumped farther down the wall, curling in on herself. Scared. 

A few monotone words come from the phone then, and the line goes dead, leaving them in a dial tone and silence. 

_Danganronpa, huh?_

He bites his lip, thinking about what he just learned, even with how little a Korekiyo knew about Danganronpa. Then, he immediately realized he just listened in on a whole conversation, and moves away from the wall. Unfortunately, Angie turns around a second later, and bumps right into him.

“Oh!” She blinks up, much shorter than himself, blue eyes wide. “Hi! You didn’t hear that, did you?”

The girl has a wide smile on her face, looking almost ecstatic, but he sees tense lines in her forehead, stretching the fake grin. 

“Um, hear what?” He lies. The face mask was useful for some things, able to easily hide expressions. 

“Great! I’m Angie!” And she grabs his hand to shake it. “Again. We met already, yeah? Thanks for that, by the way.”

“You’re...welcome.” He says awkwardly, narrowing his eyes as non-threateningly as possible. 

“Anyways! I gotta go!” The girl spins on her heel and waves goodbye. “Places to be, auditions to audition for!” Skipping away, Korekiyo is left alone with thoughts of strange girls and killing games.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! thanks for reading, I’m really enjoying writing this fic :) as always, feedback is very appreciated! thank you <333

**Author's Note:**

> WOW! a fic with a planned beginning, middle, and end with chapters laid out?? that I'm actually motivated to finish? What a miracle.
> 
> Part one will be 5 chapters leading up to the start of season 53. Part two is in-game, and part three will be everyone waking up (spoilers, its a vr au, is anyone surprised?) and the recovery afterward.
> 
> more warnings will be added as the fic progresses. this isn't necessarily altering canon events, but adding a before and after. Korekiyo got horrible writing treatment, so consider this a character fix it story without changing the story! biiig warnings will be put up for mentions of incest, but that won’t be for awhile. 
> 
> also, the shinnaga in this fic is the main ship, but I have no plans for it to be romantic at the moment, so consider it more platonic for now. more characters in next chapter. 
> 
> FEEDBACK IS REALLY APPRECIATED! I'm really excited to continue this story, since I have a set plan for it, and even the smallest comment keeps me motivated. <3 either way, thanks for taking time out of your day to read my fic


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